1,818 research outputs found
Adaptation of the measurement of acculturation strategies for people of African decent (MASPAD) in measuring acculturation in British Nigerians
The MASPAD is a validated and reliable, self-reported scale developed in the USA for measuring acculturation in people of African descent. However, nothing is known about the scale’s suitability for measuring acculturation and religious beliefs/behaviours of people of African descent living in Europe. The present study measured the psychometric properties of the MASPAD among Nigerian immigrants in the UK. Principal component analysis revealed that all variables loaded substantially across six components for acculturation patterns and religious factors, which are: “traditionalist behaviours”, “traditionalist beliefs”, “assimilationist behaviours”, “integrationist behaviours”,“religious beliefs”, and “religious behaviours”. Two new distinct subscales emerged from the adapted MASPAD for assessing religious beliefs and behaviours, which is characteristic of a multidimensional factor structure for acculturation scales. This study has provided important information on the need to develop appropriate measures for people of African descent, relative to their historical and cultural antecedents, as well as immigration contexts
An exploration of health seeking behaviours among Nigerian Christians in the UK: towards enhanced health services utilisation
Migration from different cultures carries with it some acclimatisation challenges. This study explored various health-seeking behaviours and potential barriers to healthcare utilisation among Nigerian Christians in the UK. This qualitative study involved 10 adult male and female participants, with both interviews and focus group discussion (FG) for data collection (Interviews: n = 4, FG: n = 6). Thematic analysis revealed that religious and cultural beliefs were barriers to healthcare utilisation. The implication is that further research on cultural matching between care providers and service users is needed; where religious leaders and health providers from Nigeria can influence health decisions among this migrant community. Limitations of the current study are discussed, with directions for further research identified
Nigerian clergy and healthcare professionals’ perceptions of health-seeking behaviours among Nigerian immigrants in the UK
Healthcare underutilisation due to religio-cultural differences has been recorded among immigrant groups. The diversity in patient populations due to immigration in the UK has implications for adequate understanding of a patients’ culture by the clinician as well as patient-clinician cultural matching for enhanced service use and outcome. This qualitative study investigated how Nigerian clergy and health professionals perceived health-seeking behaviours among Nigerians in the UK; while considering the impact of their own beliefs and values as care providers. Six participants were interviewed (clergy, n = 2; health professionals, n = 4). Data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Results showed that the clergy and health professionals themselves use religious/cultural cure and formal healthcare methods, and believed Nigerian immigrants as predominantly using religious / cultural methods which can affect healthcare utilisation, although differences between the professionals were reported. The potentials for integrating other cure methods into the formal healthcare services was considered, while highlighting the challenges that may arise from such collaborative effort
The asymptotic structure of nearly unstable non-negative integer-valued AR(1) models
This paper considers non-negative integer-valued autoregressive processes
where the autoregression parameter is close to unity. We consider the
asymptotics of this `near unit root' situation. The local asymptotic structure
of the likelihood ratios of the model is obtained, showing that the limit
experiment is Poissonian. To illustrate the statistical consequences we discuss
efficient estimation of the autoregression parameter and efficient testing for
a unit root.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.3150/08-BEJ153 the Bernoulli
(http://isi.cbs.nl/bernoulli/) by the International Statistical
Institute/Bernoulli Society (http://isi.cbs.nl/BS/bshome.htm
Predicting attitudes towards seeking medical care among Nigerian immigrants in the UK
This study investigates the relationships between acculturation, religion, and coping styles; as well as their predictive potentials in relation to socio-demographic factors, on access to medical help among Nigerians in the UK. This is a cross-sectional study using questionnaires for data collection (N = 297). Results revealed negative correlations between assimilative behaviours and religious behaviours and between religious behaviours, denial and religious coping. High levels of religiosity and coping through behavioural disengagement and self-blame predicted poor attitudes to medical help; but those who used instrumental support, emotional support, and active coping showed more positive attitudes to medical help-seeking. No gender differences in medical help-seeking were found, but older people sought medical help more than those who were younger; while affiliation to the Christian religion predicted positive attitudes towards medical help seeking. These findings have implications for policy development towards tailored interventions that can enhance healthcare utilization among immigrants
An interpretative phenomenological analysis of discontinued use of the e-cigarette
Introduction: Many UK smokers use e-cigarettes as a quitting aid; however a substantial number discontinue use of the e-cigarette and revert to smoking. Understanding why this may happen is important both for individuals and for stop smoking services.
Aims: To explore young adult smokers’ experiences of use and discontinued use of the e-cigarette.
Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants who tried e-cigarettes for at least seven days and returned to smoking. Data was transcribed and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.
Results: Findings suggested participants held conflicting attitudes about using e-cigarettes, which undermined attempts to quit smoking, and led to the discontinuation of the e-cigarette. These conflicts centred on participants’ discomfort with the e-cigarette or vaping identity, lack of abstinence self-efficacy and navigation of barriers to e-cigarette use. The complex interplay of these factors may have led to an underestimation of the individual effort required to continue vaping and reinforced participants’ perception of the e-cigarette as an inferior product to the cigarette.
Conclusions: Future research should focus on the role of identity, self-efficacy, control and smokers’ expectations of e-cigarettes on smoking cessation as these may be important factors to consider for a more tailored service for e-cigarette users
In Vitro Models for the Evaluation of Antisense Oligonucleotides in Skin
The genodermatosis dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB) is caused by mutations in the COL7A1 gene which encodes type VII collagen (C7). In the cutaneous basement membrane zone, C7 secures attachment of the epidermal basal keratinocyte to the papillary dermis by means of anchoring fibril formation. The complete absence of these anchoring fibrils leads to severe blistering of skin and mucosa upon the slightest friction and early mortality. To date, although preclinical advances toward therapy are promising, treatment for the disease is merely symptomatic. Therefore, research into novel therapeutics is warranted.Antisense oligonucleotide (ASO)-mediated exon skipping is such a therapy . Clinical examination of naturally occurring exon skipping suggested that this mechanism could most likely benefit the most severely affected patients. The severe form of DEB is caused by biallelic null mutations. Exon skipping aims to bind an ASO to the mutated exon of the pre-mRNA in the cell nucleus. Thereby, the ASO inhibits the recognition of the mutated exon by the splicing machinery, and as a result, the mutated exon is spliced out from the mRNA with its surrounding introns, i.e., it is skipped. Here, we describe in vitro methods to evaluate ASO-mediated exon skipping in a preclinical setting
Local Asymptotic Equivalence of the Bai and Ng (2004) and Moon and Perron (2004) Frameworks for Panel Unit Root Testing
This paper considers unit-root tests in large n and large T heterogeneous
panels with cross-sectional dependence generated by unobserved factors. We
reconsider the two prevalent approaches in the literature, that of Moon and
Perron (2004) and the PANIC setup proposed in Bai and Ng (2004). While these
have been considered as completely different setups, we show that, in case of
Gaussian innovations, the frameworks are asymptotically equivalent in the sense
that both experiments are locally asymptotically normal (LAN) with the same
central sequence. Using Le Cam's theory of statistical experiments we determine
the local asymptotic power envelope and derive an optimal test jointly in both
setups. We show that the popular Moon and Perron (2004) and Bai and Ng (2010)
tests only attain the power envelope in case there is no heterogeneity in the
long-run variance of the idiosyncratic components. The new test is
asymptotically uniformly most powerful irrespective of possible heterogeneity.
Moreover, it turns out that for any test, satisfying a mild regularity
condition, the size and local asymptotic power are the same under both data
generating processes. Thus, applied researchers do not need to decide on one of
the two frameworks to conduct unit root tests. Monte-Carlo simulations
corroborate our asymptotic results and document significant gains in
finite-sample power if the variances of the idiosyncratic shocks differ
substantially among the cross sectional units
In Vivo Models for the Evaluation of Antisense Oligonucleotides in Skin
Here, we describe an in vivo model in which antisense oligonucleotides were preclinically evaluated in reconstituted patient and healthy control skin. The aim was to investigate the effect of antisense oligonucleotides upon local or systemic administration. This allows for clinically relevant evaluation of antisense oligonucleotides in an in vivo setting. In this model, primary human keratinocytes and fibroblasts were placed into silicone grafting chambers, implanted onto the back of athymic nude mice. After sufficient cells were expanded, within a few weeks, human skin grafts were generated with a high success rate. These mice bearing grafts were subsequently treated with antisense oligonucleotides targeting exon 105 of the COL7A1 gene which encodes type VII collagen. Patients completely lacking expression of type VII collagen develop severe blistering of skin and mucosa, i.e., recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa. In this chapter, we describe the in vivo model used for the preclinical evaluation of antisense oligonucleotides as therapeutic approach for recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa
The Application of the Geiger-MĂĽller Ion Counter to the Study of the Space Distribution of X-ray Photoelectrons
The photographic plate in the apparatus for the magnetic analysis of x-ray photoelectrons has been replaced by a Geiger-Müller ion counter and the magnetic spectrum of the photoelectrons ejected from a thin film of gold by primary x-ray from molybdenum has been studied. Very great resolving power is obtained and considerable precision in determining the exact position of the lines (i.e. the energies of the photoelectrons). The numbers of LIII electrons of gold ejected by the Kα1 x-ray of molybdenum have been plotted as a function of the angle of ejection and compared with the theoretical longitudinal distribution predicted by Schur
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